


Unwanted visitors, unexpected outcomes

by Multifandom_damnation



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, Boxers, Brotherly Bonding, Crime Fighting, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, How Do I Tag, I'm Bad At Tagging, Intimidation, Photography, Protectiveness, Vigilantism, i think diego's boss is named al but he doesn't have his own character tag so i'm just guessing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 21:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18039536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: After everything has finally settled down and the world is no longer ending, something still nags on Luther's mind. Something so important that he'll risk his limbs to go and find out, because he knows damn well that he isn't welcome in Diego's tiny home and that he'll be stabbed at least once before the night is out, but more than ever he needs to know why his brother lives the way he does and how Luther can help.





	Unwanted visitors, unexpected outcomes

**Author's Note:**

> This didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped but you know, I tried. I probably ruined their relationship here too but I don't know how to fix it so we're just left with this shithole. Let me know if you liked it but I feel like this could have gone better in quite a few ways, but it's 1240am and I'm not about to fix it now.

The second time Luther decided to visit his brother he made sure to keep an ear out for his heavy footsteps descending into the basement of the gym after a night full of whatever it was that Diego did in the dead of night. Playing vigilante or saving the lives of terrified children or throwing his fist into the faces of disrespectful people instead of punching bags for a change. Either way, Luther wasn't sure what kind of mood his brother would be in when he came home and wanted to keep all his limbs away from Diego's deadly knives, no matter how certain he was that Diego would internationally miss him by inches.   
  
So he sat in the little chair crowded in the corner beside a filing cabinet that was in replace of a dresser, a desk filled with books and paperwork and the things that should probably be in the drawers of the filing cabinet and Diego's tiny single bed that was shoved in a corner. After looking about at the diminutive space his brother had occupied for who knew how many years, he picked up the nearest item of reading material off of the desk and began flicking through a magazine about the kind of service the gym offered.   
  
After a few moments of idle flicking, Luther came across a large double spread page with a face as familiar to him as his own. The large, block letters in the top of the page read _" **fighter by day, a janitor by night,"**_. On one page was a shirtless black haired man clad in boxing gloves, backlit by a skylight as he threw a perfect punch into the bag. His scarred skin was coated in a sheen of sweat and he seemed to not even notice the picture was being taken. The second one showed the same man dressed in a set of navy scrubs and a lanyard, a mop held in his hands in place of boxing gloves, a mop bucket kicked off to the side and the floor around him was wet. He was the only person in the vast room and in this image too it looked like he had no idea his picture was even being taken.  
  
In the bottom right corner of the spread, the phrase, _**"Diego Hargreeves- cleaning up the mess of the world one floor at a time."**_  
  
Luther spent a little while longer staring at that page before he heard his brother's familiar gait slow to a stop on the stairs. The door was mostly ajar and Luther could see his brothers shadow on the ground so before a knife could find itself embedded in the wall behind his head or the chair between his legs, he called out in the softest tone he could muster. "It's just me, Diego. No need to check for intruders." Luther heard grumbled words muttered under his breath and his brother's shadow put the knife back into his side holster.   
  
Slowly, reluctantly, Diego pushed the door open to the room and glared straight-backed at Luther. "What the fuck are you doing here, Monkey Boy?"  
  
"What, do I need an excuse to visit my brother now?" Luther asked as he marked his page in the magazine with one large finger.   
  
Diego snorted and stepped further into the room. "You've needed one every other time you've come down here," he said absently as he began taking off his holsters and placed them on the desk. There was a splotch of blood on the side of his black leather uniform and he grimaced as he placed a hand over it.   
  
"You're hurt," Luther said and almost cursed himself for pointing out the blindingly obvious. "What happened?"  
  
"I'm fine, it's not what you think." Diego waved his brother off and sat heavily down on his bed, not at all concerned with the dirt he was coated in. "I was just on my way home. Some shit dragged a girl into an alleyway, I don't know what for but I wasn't going to let it slide. Turns out he had a knife as well. I'm fine but you still haven't told me what the fuck you're doing here."  
  
Instead of answering, Luther turned the page around to show his brother the double-page spread. "I didn't know you were so photogenic or that you'd allow these pictures to be taken in the first place."  
  
Smiling, Diego took the magazine from Luther's hands and sat gently down on the bed. "That's because I didn't know they were being taken. I only really knew when I picked one up myself but at that point, I couldn't really complain." He winked at Luther. "They look pretty good though, don't they?"  
  
"As I said- photogenic," Luther laughed as his brother smirked down at the photos. He looked so goofy with a crooked, easy-going smile on his face. Or maybe he didn't look goofy at all and Luther just hadn't seen his brother smile in too many years. He cleared his throat. "So uh, is the pay good down here?"  
  
Digeo raised an eyebrow at his brother's terrible segue. "The pays shit. I hardly get above the minimum wage at the best of times. But I've got four walls and a roof over my head so I can't really complain all that much."  
  
"Yeah, actually, about that." Luther rubbed the back of his neck. Diego titled his head and looked at him strangely. "I've been thinking a lot about you and Allison finally convinced me to come down and ask so-"  
  
"Just spit it out and stop stalling." Diego sighed, already exhausted with the entire conversation.  
  
"Right, yeah, ok." Luther looked around the room awkwardly and waved his hand about. "Why do you stay... here? It's tiny and you don't even have enough space to live. The guy who owns this place yells at you all the time and is just a total dick about you going in and out. Why do you stay here when you could live anywhere you want? And even if you couldn't afford it with your paycheck, I'm sure Allison would be happy to loan you some money to pay for it. She's famous, she's bound to have enough."  
  
For a moment Diego was calm as he absently ran his hands over his bedspread. "I don't know," he said quietly and it was the softest Luther had ever heard his brothers voice. "I guess it's just nice having a place that I can call my own. _Individuality_ and all that shit."  
  
"You make your living mopping floors," Luther said. "And there's nothing wrong with that but obviously you could be much more useful if you actually taught some classes. If those pictures tell any kind of tale, it's that you know what you're doing and you can do it well."  
  
Snorting, Diego sat back against the wall. "You know that Al wouldn't even think about giving me a promotion, even if it is just to teach a lesson. He doesn't even like me."  
  
"Well, it's his loss." Luther tried to move very little because he didn't really fit in the small space. In fact, Luther wondered how even Diego, who wasn't exactly small in stature himself but definitely smaller than Luther, could exist in the place he called home. "I mean, you could always come and move in with us. It's just mum, Pogo and I usually. Klaus comes sometimes and Five stays occasionally and Vanya comes for day trips but..." he winced at the look Diego was giving him. "Right, sorry."  
  
Diego shrugged. "It's not like I go out of my way to avoid you fuckers, but that house stopped being home for me a very long time ago and I have no interest in changing that." He sighed. "The only good thing is that I'd get to spend more time with mum."  
  
Laughing under his breath, Luther stood up from where he was wedged between the filing cabinet and the desk and slowly sat down on the bed beside his brother. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when it creaked, sagged slightly, but didn't break. "I get that, I really do. Being on the moon was lonely but it was also sort of... freeing. There was nobody up there to tell me what to do. It was a sort of peace I didn't have while living at home." He looked at brother full on, who was staring at the floor, the magazine clutched so tightly in one had that Luther gently pried it from his fingers in fear that he would ruin one of the things he should be proud of. "I know you like living as your own person, but that doesn't mean you have to be lonely. I don't want that for you, fuck I've _never_ wanted that for _any_ of you."  
  
Now that his hands were free of the precious magazine, Diego fisted his hands in his pants. "Well, what screw-ups we turned out to be." He said bitterly. "We're all alone now, every single one of us, and there's not a fucking thing anyone can do about it."  
  
"You could always come and stay with us," Luther suggested, but at the roll of his brother's eyes, he quickly amended. "Not all the time though. Think of it more as a... holiday house than anything. I'm pretty sure that's what everyone else thinks of it as now anyway."  
  
In a rare moment of moment of brotherly compassion that was even rarer between these two brothers, in particular, Diego placed his hand on Luther's shoulder. "Thanks for trying man, but I think I'll pass."  
  
Luther sighed out his nose and nodded. He slapped his hands on his knees before standing up. "Well, give me a call when you change your mind. I guess I'll see you later."  
  
As Luther made his way out of the building, he ran into the small old man who Diego had called Al, putting away boxing gloves and wrappings. "Oh, big guy. You're Diego's brother, right? He'll be downstairs. When you go see him, could you tell him to get his ass up here and do his fucking job because I'm losing my patience."  
  
"Yeah, thanks Al, I just went to see him," Luther said, sticking his hands in the pockets of his coat. "I actually wanted to ask you something before I left." Al raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement. "Do you need a new teacher? Trainer, or what whatever you call them?"  
  
Al hummed to himself as he thought. "Now that you mention it, I've been meaning to put up some adds in the local paper. Why- you offering?"  
  
"Oh, no." Luther shook his head. He hopped the movement would hide the smile curling on the edges of his lips. "No, but I think I know someone who would be great for the job. Think of me as... volunteering him."  
  
"Oh? And who's this guy? And how much will I have to pay him?"  
  
Luther shrugged and bounced on the balls of his feet. "I think you should give Diego the promotion he deserves."  
  
_"Diego?"_ Al demanded, outraged. "He hardly comes in to scrub the floors every night and you expect me to pay him extra for another, more important job that he probably won't even show up for?"  
  
"Yeah," Luther said, lowering his voice and taking a step forward so he towered over Al more than he usually did. "I do. I expect him to be treated the same as all your other employees and for him to be paid the right amount of money for the hard work he puts in." He patted Al on the shoulder and the smaller man flinched and stepped back. "Think about it."  
  
Days later Luther got a phone call, just as he was coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. He almost slipped over the bathmat in his haste to reach his phone on the basin before it ran out of rings. "Hello?"  
  
_"What did you do?"_  
  
Luther smiled and was glad his brother couldn't see him from the other end of the line. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Diego."  
  
"Don't patronize me you giant hairy bastard." Diego seemed more confused and exasperated than genuinely angry so Luther let the insult slide. "You expect me to believe that it's just a coincidence that as soon as you and I have a conversation about my job and the pay I'm getting, Al not only increases my wage but also promotes me to teaching in his rings?"  
  
If he was being honest, Luther hadn't expected all that to happen so quickly and not that he would do both the things Luther suggested as well. While he did threaten him, Luther wasn't going to follow through with anything. "Yes," was all he said as he began to dry himself off.  
  
"Did you do that, Luther?"  
  
"I have no clue what you're prattling on about."  
  
Digeo sighed heavily through his nose. When he spoke, his voice was the softest Luther had _ever_ heard it. "Thanks, Luther."  
  
"Should I let mum know to make extra for lunch?" Luther asked hopefully but deep down he knew he was pushing his luck.  
  
There was a pause on the other end. "Yeah," Diego muttered, defeated.   
  
"I'll see you soon then."  
  
When they hung up the phone, Luther did a little happy jig on the wet bathroom tiles, remembered to put some clothes on just before he left the room and went to inform his mother that she had another mouth to feed and let his other siblings know the good news.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god Luther shut the fuck up about the moon


End file.
